STELLARTON, N.S. –
A killer offence? Check.
Dominant pitching? Got that, too.
Steady defence and aggressive baserunning?
Sure.
The Stellarton Stingers U14 bludgeoned their way to a provincial title this past weekend in Halifax, going 3-0 in the three-team tournament and outscoring their opponents 37-5.
“We have a power-hitting team,” said head coach Steve Alexander, whose troops banged out four homers from Brooke Snyder, Elliott Richards, Josie Dunn and Sarah Fraser, the latter two pounding out grand slams.
“Everybody was hitting, our pitching was light years above everybody else and our defence was solid, too.”
The Stingers beat Highland Park 12-1 in the championship game, with Ryland Biron striking out eight batters to get the win, while Snyder was player of the game.
They started with a 15-3 win over Highland Park (where Kiara Allen fanned eight batters to get the win, and Dunn was player of the game), then beat Cape Breton West 10-0, as Biron threw a one-hitter, gave up just two walks and was player of the game. She would also be named tournament MVP.
Next up for the Stingers is a trip to Quispamsis, N.B., this weekend for the eastern Canadian championship. They started Aug. 22 with a 16-14 loss to the Western Wildfire, play two Friday and finish the round robin on Saturday. The 10-team tournament has two divisions with five teams in each.
“We’d like to try to finish in the top three in our division to try to get to crossovers,” said Alexander.
“We’re going to try to win as any games as possible, but it’s more about the experience this year – getting there to see what it’s like.”
The Stingers are the only Nova Scotia team headed to eastern Canadians. There will be two teams each from P.E.I., Quebec and Ontario, and three from New Brunswick.
